If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail
Learn from your mistakes and use them to improve future outcomes
It was a cold, dark morning.
At 5:30 a.m., there was still a cool mist in the air and dew covering the ground.
Nearly 150 young men and women were assembled together on what they called the “Parade Deck.”
We were cadets in the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Explorer Program.
Each of us in a crisp uniform. Pressed shirt and slacks. Clean, white crewneck t-shirt. Black socks. Freshly shined jump boots.
Except for a single recruit.
Yours truly.
I had rushed out of the house early that morning to get to formation on time after dressing in the dark.
And I didn’t realize that I had one walked out the door wearing one dark blue sock and one black sock.
During inspection that morning one of our drill instructors discovered my mistake.
And he let the entire world know about it.
Recruit Olsen…WHY DO YOU INSIST ON BEING DIFFERENT?
I had no clue what he was talking about, which is even worse.
C’MON, OLSEN! ONE OF THESE IS NOT LIKE THE OTHERS. WHY NOT???
Then he yanked my pant legs up to show me my mistake.
And I’ll remember forever what he said to me and the entire class after that.
PEOPLE…IF YOU FAIL TO PREPARE, YOU PREPARE TO FAIL.
Then he “invited” me to lead the entire class in pressing concrete for what felt like an hour. In reality, it was only 100 push-ups. But it felt like an eternity.
Needless to say, I wasn’t the most popular guy with my classmates that day.
Thirty years later though, and I still remember this lesson like it was yesterday.
Here are four insights I learned from this lesson that I think you’ll appreciate:
Your attitude matters: Life is going to throw you curveballs on the regular. You have zero control over most of those things. But you have complete control over how you respond. Will you get angry and fight back? Will you cry that life is unfair and you want a do-over? Or will you embrace the challenge, learn from it, and become a better person because of it? You get to choose.
Assess your reality: You can’t know what success is if you don’t understand the reality of your situation in an honest way. Know where you’re strong, and know where you’re weak. Then you can formulate and act on a plan to improve your situation. But without assessing your reality, you won’t know whether your plan will solve your problem or not.
Get in alignment: Being out of alignment causes a host of problems in both your personal and professional life. The faster you get into alignment with expectations and reality, the more likely you’ll be successful. This may require you to flex on what feels comfortable, but ultimately the outcomes will be beneficial in the long run.
Take action: Once you know what needs to be done to correct something in the moment and set you up for future success, you must act. It’s not enough just to know. In fact, knowledge is useless to a leader unless you’re willing to act on it. It’s in your action that you can resolve the challenges you face.